SC stays all 2G proceedings in Delhi HC

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed all proceedings before the Delhi High Court relating to 20 petitions by 2G spectrum scam accused, including former telecom minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and others who had challenged the trial court's decision to frame charges against them.

Page 1 of 4

NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday stayed all proceedings before the Delhi High Court relating to 20 petitions by 2G spectrum scam accused, including former telecom minister A Raja, DMK MP Kanimozhi and others who had challenged the trial court's decision to frame charges against them.

Appearing for the CBI, senior advocate K K Venugopal informed a bench of Justices G S Singhvi and K S Radhakrishnan that though the high court had not stayed the trial proceedings, the multitude of petitions by the accused questioning framing of charges against them appeared to be dilatory tactics.

The CBI had requested the court to call for the records of the cases and transfer all the petitions to the SC. The bench issued notices to the accused who moved the HC against the trial court order. It gave six weeks to the accused to file their responses to the CBI's plea.

Venugopal and additional solicitor general Harin Raval informed the court that the CBI had taken out 4GB of data from the computers of a firm, BTS Belvoir, during its raids and it was transcribing the contents. It promised to provide the court with the data relevant to the 2G scam.

He said each MB of data when transcribed runs into 500 pages and at this rate, 4GB could be a compilation of 20 lakh pages. The bench allowed CBI to show it the relevant portions on November 19, the next date of hearing.

The CBI, in its Letters Rogatory (LR) sent to Swiss authorities, had requested them to provide details and relevant documents pertaining to investment of $4 million by Mavi Investment Fund Limited Mauritius in Swan Telecom, which later became Etisalat DB Telecom, through Delphi Investment.

It had also sought details of the bank accounts of BTS Belvoir Investment and also of any funds transferred by it to Mavi Investment during the period 2005-10.

The CBI had requested the Registrar of Companies to examine its officers regarding nominee shareholders of BTS Belvoir since January 2007 till date and also examine Alastair Guggunbehi, one of the directors of the company, besides providing the 'Know Your Customer' documents.

The LRs had also communicated to the Swiss authorities that two group companies of BTS Belvoir Group were incorporated in Mumbai and claimed that Guggunbehi was "personally linked to the investment of $4 million by Delphi Investment in Swan Telecom and is also aware of its ultimate beneficiary owners".

The LRs said that during investigations, it had come on record that at the time of incorporation, the sole founder share of Delphi Investment was held by Conqueror Limited which transferred it to Mavi Investment on December 11, 2007.

According to the document, Delphi Investment made a payment of $4 million to Reliance Telecom Limited towards purchase of 10,791,000 equity shares of Swan Telecom Private Limited.